This week is International Week of Happiness at Work, which raises awareness of happiness in the workplace and celebrates businesses worldwide that make it their mission to keep their employees happy.

At Anabas, we think every member of our team should be happy at work and should have a positive experience each day. We know that a happy team correlates to better health and wellbeing, and can boost productivity in the workplace, too. Studies show that happy employees can be up to 12 per cent more productive than those who are unhappy.

A focus on company culture

A happy and positive workplace takes much more than just providing a state-of-the-art office with free breakfasts for employees to enjoy. It’s about creating and instilling a culture within the workplace that makes employees feel valued and engaged.

A company culture has the power to embrace colleagues and help them realise the true scale of their potential. Helping people to see the difference their role plays in the wider business makes them feel valued and gives them a sense of purpose, which in turn makes for a happier time at work.

A good company culture is not only for existing employees either. Research shows that 77 per cent of prospective employees check a business’ culture before applying for a role. Nurturing a happy work environment is important for existing staff as well as attracting new talent into teams.

We’re proud of our culture at Anabas. It’s what makes our team perform at their best every day, and is centred around our company values, which are at the heart of everything we do:

• Each other: We’re there for each other
• Improve: Always looking to improve what we do
• Deliver: We deliver our promises
• Smile: We make our customers smile

Rewards and recognition

A culture where people feel confident and appreciated will go a long way to nurturing happiness at work. If an employee doesn’t feel valued, engagement will dwindle, and negativity will thrive.

Rewarding employees for their hard work and taking the time to thank them personally for their contributions and efforts can boost morale amongst teams and make for a happier time at work.

We have several reward and recognition schemes at Anabas, to ensure we celebrate all successes in our teams, no matter how big or small. These include our Small Decencies award, and our brand new Star of the Month award too.

Measuring and listening

It is important to gauge how employees are feeling and listen to their feedback to improve their time and work and keep them happy.

With people generally spending less time in the office after a shift in working patterns spurred on by the pandemic, gauging the moods and feelings of employees is more difficult now than ever before, with fewer opportunities to chat directly or monitor gestures and body language.

Because of this, more businesses are turning to online surveys to gather employee feedback and improve the workplace for a happier team. By uncovering how employees feel about their wellbeing as well as the satisfaction they feel when at work, employers can use this information to make improvements and address any gaps that could hinder happiness in the workplace.

At Anabas, we periodically reach out to our teams through our employee engagement survey. We give our people the chance to leave anonymous feedback that we use to improve our processes and implement changes to keep our employees engaged at work, and ultimately, happy. In 2023, our employee engagement score reached 87% – almost double the UK average.

During this week of recognition, how does your organisation measure up when it comes to happiness at work? What changes could you implement to make it a happier place for your employees? A happy workforce will be able to deliver a far greater service, with ‘can-do’ attitudes and a positive outlook that can tackle even the most challenging of days.